Sleep is a 1990s stoner metal band from San Jose, California. Al Cisneros, Tom Choi, Chris Hakius and MattPikeformedthebandas acrust punkband in the late 1980s under the name Asbestos Death, releasing two 7" singles. Circa1990,TomChoileft andwas replacedby Justin Marler.The band's name was then changed to Sleep, and their debut -VolumeOnewasreleased in 1991(see 1991 in music).Frequently compared topioneers like Saint Vitus, Sleep soon gainedadevotedfanbasewithin thedeveloping stoner rock scene.

Sleep is a 1990s stoner metal band from San Jose, California. Al Cisneros, Tom Choi, Chris Hakius and MattPikeformedthebandas acrust punkband in the late 1980s under the name Asbestos Death, releasing two 7" singles. Circa1990,TomChoileft andwas replacedby Justin Marler.The band's name was then changed to Sleep, and their debut -VolumeOnewasreleased in 1991(see 1991 in music).Frequently compared topioneers like Saint Vitus, Sleep soon gainedadevotedfanbasewithin thedeveloping stoner rock scene.

http://sleepsl.bandcamp.com.

Holy Mountain (1993) is widely-regarded as the band's creative pinnacle and is considered aseminalstoner/doommetalalbum.Thealbum'srelease was followed by a potentially lucrative offer from London Records, andSleepsigned withthem.Under thiscontract, in 1995they beganwork on their third album, Dopesmoker. Dopesmoker wasactually onesinglesongwhich was overone hour in length. The albumwas submittedto London Records, who declared that itwasunmarketableandtherefore couldnot be released. Sleep returned to the studioand then submittedtheir second attempt atthenewalbum.They had retitled itJerusalem, re-written some of the lyrics, and trimmed it downto a lean 52 minutes,butitwasessentiallythe same album andsong as Dopesmoker. London Records again refused to release it.Frustratedandgenerallyunhappywiththe situation, themembers of Sleep decided it was time to disband.

In 1998, Jerusalem was released posthumously as an "official bootleg" by a friend of the group. Sleepandtheirformermanagerhadfullknowledge of this and gave it their approval. In 1999, Jerusalem was given an officiallegitimatereleasebyThe MusicCartel in the US andRiseAbove Records in Europe. Finally, in 2003 the original version ofDopesmokerwasofficiallyreleased byTee Pee Records. It isgenerally consideredthe definitive version of the album.It can beheard onJimJarmusch'sBroken flowersoriginal soundtrack.

Pike soon formed his own group High on Fire while Marler (now a Russian Orthodox monk) and HaikusformedTheSabians.In2004,Cisneros andHakius reunited as a duo known as Om. « hide